A Long Time Ago
by Lezg33k
Summary: Things aren't going so well for the second season of A Long Time Ago. The last convention the cast attended turned into a huge debacle over a fan issue with romantic pairings and the entire cast is now on high alert. Jamie Mulligan, the blonde haired leading lady is having a rough time and on-screen diva Lara Patilla isn't helping. Can Jamie find solace with Lily McLaughlin?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclamer: **This is a parody fic that is written to satirize the events surrounding Once Upon a Time and give me a place to write about JRose. This is NOT, I repeat, NOT, to be taken seriously in any way shape or form. I doubt very seriously that my characterization of any of these very real people, with feelings, is in any way accurate. And for some, it's just downright caricature.

**Author's Note: **First and foremost I'd like to thank my gorgeous girlfriend for being the most amazing person on Earth, and for getting me into JRose. I'd also like to thank my fellow flailers: Hope, Laura, Naa and Tooth. Who will all be featured in this fic at one point or another.

Chapter 1

Bitch.

Slut.

Homophobe.

Jamie Mulligan threw her phone directly into the door of her trailer and rubbed at her temples, trying to figure out a way to not let this whole fan debacle bother her.

"Would it be so much to ask have been born into a pre-social media world?" she said to the four walls around her and then looked up as she heard the sound of the trailer door opening.

Callum Drummond bent down to pick up an array of broken pieces of Apple technology and hand them back to their owner.

"Looking for a reason to upgrade?" he asked with a cheeky grin and adjusted the collar of his heavy leather pirate's jacket.

Green eyes narrowed as the blonde head shook.

"More like giving myself a forced vacation from the bullshit PR portion of this job," she answered with faux elation.

"Yeah, well," he pulled out his cell and leaned in to take a picture of the massacred one, "this is your fourth company phone this season. Keep it up and they're going to start to get suspicious as to just how clumsy you are."

"Good thing I'm contracted for five phones then," she sighed and glanced over his actions. "What are you doing?"

"I'm tweeting your carnage, what else would I be doing?" he said and showed her his handiwork.

_Looks like the Protector part of her legacy was meant for fairy tale characters, not electronics. #JMullButterFingers_

Jamie read the tweet and rolled her eyes.

"Why are you so damn chipper about this whole thing? They hate you even more than they hate me, and in about five seconds about a million rabid shippers from other pairings are going to call you every horrible name in the book."

Callum's gloved fingers pressed send and he looked up to give the blonde an answer, "It is astonishing, the vocabulary kids are taking in at such a young age. Though, I will say, I'm not quite sure how they think I'm trying to date rape you while acting like a total puff all at the same time. Mixed messaging."

A fluffy pillow made its way to his face as its launcher surrendered the mildest of giggles.

"Now that's what I like to see," he said, plopping down into the seat beside her and then pulling close for a selfie.

"Do not tweet that. I'm serious," she warned.

"I won't. Just for my own personal collection," he explained, putting the phone away. "You don't just walk around playing Captain Jack Sparrow without photo documenting the entire thing."

He ended his statement with a smile which caused a sad look to form on her face.

"I wish I could be more like you, Callum. It's hard though. We take this huge emotional beating every day. And it's not even like we can just ignore it because, God forbid, someone mention us concerning their dying grandmother and how it would just make their entire day better if they could get a happy birthday and we miss it. I wanted to act, not placate the masses into ceasing their verbal abuse," she grabbed his phone and it nearly met the same fate as her own.

"Hey, hey, hey!" He exclaimed, grabbing the phone and pocketing it. "I didn't get five phones in my contract. And, sadly, people don't get to just act anymore. Not on national television. You want to act and be out of the spotlight, go off, off Broadway and live in an apartment the size of a closet, eating ramen noodles every day. I promise _nobody_ will care about your personal life then."

"Maybe I will," she stood up angrily and crossed her arms.

With a sigh the leather clad frame stood behind her and Callum softened his tone.

"We all have to pay the Piper, love," he warned, a gentle hand coming up to comfort her shoulder. "That's what The Evil One says in the script all the time. You want to have a life of comfort and be an actor? You have to deal with the new terrain. Your problem is that you don't want to play the game."

"I am playing the game how I was told to play it," she eased her tone and turned to face him. "They told me to push CaptainStorm and FireStorm at the convention and that's exactly what I did. And now, just because I said Ella wants a boyfriend, every online bully with the emotional maturity of a twelve year old is calling me a bigot or worse."

"And are you a bigot?" he asked, schooling his features.

"What?" she gaped in shock. "No! Callum, how could you ask me that?"

"To prove a point," he explained, blue eyes locking on hers with specific intent. "I know you. We're friends. We've spent time together enough to understand the basic principles behind our true character. You were shocked that I would ask if you were a bigot, as well you should be, because I should know, without a doubt, that you are not one. It's my opinion, and the opinion of the other people who actually care about you, that you should worry about. Not the ones issuing forth from online twelve year olds."

Thin lips opened to form an argument but she had nothing. With a wink and a triumphant grin he pat her on the shoulder.

"Exactly, now come on, somebody was whispering about the new fairy being on set today. Let's go see if we can sniff her out and make friends."

Jamie couldn't help but smile and take his arm as they exited the trailer. But, to each of their surprise, the door swiftly opened before them and there stood Lara Patilla: Diva to Jamie's Ingénue.

"Well, well," Lara's dark eyes smiled mischievously as she crossed her arms. "If it isn't the happy couple. Tell me, Ms. Mulligan, are you trying to kill the hopes and dreams of all of your non-CaptainStorm fans or just the SorceressStorm portion? They have been quite brutal to you lately, haven't they?"

The smirk that grew across the brunette's lips was infuriating. Lara's character wasn't in a relationship yet, giving her free reign to support any ship she wanted and she certainly did. Gritting her teeth, Jamie pulled her arm out of Callum's.

"Forgive the human contact," she tossed back. "Now, did you come by my trailer just to chaperone or was there another reason for this lovely visit?"

The low chuckle Lara exuded was unamused but she kept a civil expression on her face as she spoke.

"I came to let you know that you and guyliner are needed on set for blocking," she explained in a tone that was saccharine sweet. "And to introduce you to our new Green Fairy."

Brown eyes looked around trying to find her scene companion.

"Where has she gotten off to?" the diva asked to no one in particular. "She was right here."

Green eyes scanned the area as well until they settled upon a pixie-esque form up in one of the set trees with Jamie's other love interest for the season: Mickey. And the fairy was absolutely rolling a joint for him.

"Mickey!" Jamie spat as strong legs in skin tight jeans carried her over to the set piece, co-stars in tow.

"The problem is you were over stuffing," the fairy explained as she finished rolling the smoke and handed it over to him.

"Yeah, well the press is going to stuff you both full of bad publicity if you don't get your asses down here and put the pot away. We're having a hard enough season as it is without a rehab stint!" Jamie called up angrily, hands on hips.

"Jesus Christ, calm down, James," Mickey made his way down the tree along with his new friend. "Maybe if you had a toke or two every now and then you wouldn't be so on edge. By the way, this is Lily; our new green fairy."

"Yes," Lara looked on in disgust. "And I can see she's managed to find her way to the dregs of the show. I'll be in my trailer, opening my fan mail."

The brunette sashayed off with a perturbed gait as the rest of them stood there in awkward silence.

"It's nice to meet you," Lily finally broke the silence with an outstretched hand extending toward Jamie. "I adored your work in 'Broken'; you played an incredible bi-polar prostitute."

"We don't do drugs on set," Jamie ignored the compliment entirely and then looked on to Mickey. "At least some of us don't. The show's taking a big enough beating with the fallout from the convention. We don't need TMZ getting a shot of two fairy tale characters getting high as a kite in Neverland."

"I wasn't gonna spark it up till I got in my trailer," Mickey said defensively. "And you're being rude. Say hello to Lily."

"That's alright," Lily pulled back her outstretched hand and offered Jamie an understanding smile. "I'd be on edge too with the new hashtag coming out today and all."

"What new hashtag?" Jamie asked, green eyes finally landing on Lily's.

From the background Callum tried to make 'No, don't talk about it' motions with his hands but Lily's attention was on the blonde in front of her.

"Oh, it's nothing too bad," she pulled out her phone and searched 'Mulligan' on Urban Dictionary. "The fans just kind of created a new term. Muligan: To polarize over half your fan base in a single sentence. And then if you look on Twitter, you'll see the hashtag."

While Lily pulled up the hashtag, Jamie looked back to Callum with wide eyes.

"Did you know about this?"

"Well, I mean, I may have glazed over it while on the toilet this morning," he smiled nervously and took a step back.

"See," Lily pulled Jamie back to her side. "Callum's tweet is one of the most popular."

The actress looked on in bewilderment at the small screen.

_ CallumD: New girl on set today. Let's all hope she doesn't pull a #Mulligan._

"Callum!" she turned in a fit of rage and started toward him with murder in her eyes.

"Now wait, I can explain," he put his hands up in self defense and started backing away more quickly.

"You're going to have to explain to make-up why you need cover up for a black eye!" Jamie said as she started running after him at full speed.

Lily took in the sight with genuine amusement and leaned in to Mickey asking, "Is it always like this?"

He followed the sprinting figures with his eyes and put the joint behind his ear, "Nah, it was boring before she pulled that Mulligan."

* * *

><p>Devilish brown eyes looked on as chaos ensued across the set before their owner pulled down the blinds.<p>

"Idiot," Lara cursed and took a seat at her mirror, freshening up make-up that didn't really need freshening. "If she keeps gallivanting with him like that we really are going to lose half the fan base. And then where will we be? Cancelled, that's where we'll be!"

"Maybe you should talk to her about it," her boyfriend, Frank Dinero, offered as he took pictures of her at the seat and posted them to Instagram.

"Talk to her about it?" she asked, baffled. "And give away my secret? That all of my power comes from the shippers? Never! I just have to play my own cards right during this dire time and hope she doesn't ruin it all for the rest of us. Hell, if I play them well enough I might be able to come out on top no matter what she does."

"And how do you plan to do that, Lara?" he asked with a chuckle, observing her through the mirror.

Her eyes found his as she spoke diabolically.

"With the most well-timed sweater release known to man."

A low chuckle rolled past her lips as the Evil Sorceress music played somewhere nearby on the set.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

During one of her major breaks, Jamie made her second coffee run of the day and grabbed a magazine to read on set. The down time could be a pain every now and then but some days it was extremely welcomed by the tired actress. Though she was in amazing shape, she found herself worn down by some of the more physical scenes and the fighting sequences could really take it out of her.

"Come here you marvelous cup of happiness," she said to her coffee before taking a long, blissful sip. "Mmm. Good stuff."

She'd nearly made it back to her trailer before noticing something strange out of the corner of her eye. Lily was aboard the ship alone, talking to the masthead. Jamie knew that they were done with the ship scenes for the next few shoots and there certainly weren't any coming up with the Green Fairy. So, why was Lily up there shouting at the back of a wooden sculpture?

The curious coffee fiend snuck over to take a closer look and that's when she realized what was going on: Lily was running through her lines. She kept referring to the masthead as Selena and pretty much threatening it.

With a smirk, the blonde came closer, until she was finally at the newbie's back, and spoke.

"Jeez! What'd she do to you? Lose your dog and run off with your best friend?"

Lily jumped at first from the shock of the voice, and then turned to face her new co-star.

"You shouldn't sneak up on someone holding a magically poisoned dagger, you know," she smirked to project a light tone. "Ella might not be around to protect anyone anymore."

"No kidding," she gave the woman a soft smile. "Wow, make-up really did a number on you. You definitely look like you've been living in the woods for a few years."

Lily narrowed her eyes at the remark.

"I'm going to take it that you mean I look so stunning out of the dirt that you hardly recognized me beneath it all," she crossed her arms and waited for a reply.

This caused a bigger smile to grace Jamie's face and she gave the new girl a nod.

"That's exactly what I meant," she put down her paper and coffee and offered her hand. "I'm Jamie, the rude, self involved, prima donna who snubbed you yesterday because she was in a bad mood. I hope you can forgive me."

Lily took the offered hand immediately in a strong and confident grip, "It's nice to meet you, Jamie. Especially like this. I much prefer you kind and sarcastic as opposed to bitchy and sarcastic."

Jamie was taken aback completely by the tiny woman's presence. Lily was a big personality in a small body and her honesty was refreshing.

"I'll try to keep the bitchy part at bay," she reassured as she reluctantly let go of the hand. "So, why are you up here all by yourself? Was Lara busy? I know she isn't on set, they're shooting the guys right now."

"No, she's resting, I think," Lily answered diplomatically.

"Right," Jamie said with a knowing nod. "She's fucking Frank in her trailer, isn't she?"

"That certainly is what it sounded like when I went by to run lines," the blonde head nodded in affirmation.

"Yeah, that happens sometimes," Jamie nodded with sympathy and looked from her coffee and newspaper to the dirty, tense woman in front of her and decided to forgo her treat and help the fairy out. She grabbed the script and found Selena's lines. "I read over this scene. It's good. High drama. I wouldn't mind giving it a shot with you just to kind of research a different role."

Emerald eyes widened with surprise and appreciation as Lily took in the words.

"I'd really like that. Thank you, so much!"

"Great! Ok, so it looks like I'm supposed to be…" she looked over the stage direction but was suddenly thrust up against one of the ship walls with a fake knife at her neck and pissed off fairy growling out her lines."

"I gave up everything for you, Selena. How dare you come to my home and try to ask for my help when you don't even have the decency to beg my forgiveness?"

_Wow! This little spitfire is good!_

Jamie tried to regain her composure and push through Selena's lines.

"I umm…" she struggled but finally found her words. "We've all made mistakes Twinkle but if you kill me today you'll be making one that you can't come back from. I am sorry for what I've done to you but you have to understand that murder isn't the answer."

Lily couldn't help the chuckle that started to fall from her lips and she backed off a bit, giving Jamie some room to breathe.

"What?" the blonde head quirked. "It's my first time reading through the lines! Give me a break."

"I'm sorry," she tried to control her laughter and finally got it under wraps. "It's just you're so different from Lara. It's like every scene with her is almost… sexually charged or something. As if she's going to lunge forward and kiss you at any moment. You're more subtle… And still in the good-guy headspace. I totally believed you about the murder bit."

Jamie knew exactly what Lily was talking about. Lara's damn million dollar stare was what had gotten them all in this mess in the first place. The woman exuded sexuality and could probably have chemistry with a rocking chair.

"Actually, I'm well aware of what you're talking about," she nodded. "Let me try again."

Without warning, Jamie pulled her closer and back to their original position. She dropped the script and fixed her gaze right on the forest green eyes in front of her. This time when she repeated the lines they were slower and throatier. She talked with her eyes more than she did her lips.

Lily was taken aback not only by the woman's range of character but also by the way this reading of the words made her feel. Jamie Mulligan had intoxicating bedroom eyes. It was no wonder everyone wanted her to be a part of their ship.

"Better?"

The question pulled Lily from her internal thoughts and she nodded her head right away, continuing the scene as best as she could and then pulling away with a smile.

"Thank you, that was excellent practice. If you ever want to run through your lines with me I promise I'll be happy to help."

Jamie let out a chuckle and shook her head, "Most of my scenes these days are either fighting off bad guys or kissing them. I'm not sure you'd be into that."

"You'd be surprised."

The words came out of Lily's mouth before she realized they were going to but she didn't falter. Instead she opted to grab the script and thumb through it, looking for Jamie's next scene.

"So, who do you really ship?" she asked the 'Protector', making small talk.

"None of them," Jamie said with a huff but put Lily's first response in the back of her mind for further examination later. "I mean, really, my choices are a smelly pirate, a deadbeat dad or a completely psychotic mass murderer who's tried to kill my character multiple times. I'd ship Ella and a trip to the adult toy store before I shipped her with any of the canon or suggested ships."

"You do raise a good point," Lily nodded and looked at how frustrated her new friend seemed. "All this really gets to you, doesn't it?"

"When my morals and ethics as a human being are called into question because of a show about fairy tales?" she huffed. "Yeah, I guess you could say it does. None of these people out there attacking me have any idea who I really am. They don't know my history, they don't know my politics and they don't know my sexuality. _And_ they don't have the right to know any of it unless I choose to disclose that information."

She put her hands on her hips and took a calming breath so as not to come off so caustic with someone she was already starting to enjoy having around.

"We should treat each other better than this," she continued. "That's all. We should all be more understanding."

This whole thing was wearing on the young leading lady. So much that it seemed to Lily that it was taking all the joy out of her job. It was obvious that acting was Jamie's passion… And that passion was starting to fade due to the wear and tear of the surrounding environment.

"I think you're absolutely right," the fairy said with a smile before peeking at the script once more. "You know what else I think?"

"What?" Jamie sighed and tried to stop thinking about the entire situation.

Lily put on her sleaziest grin and dropped her voice a few octaves before moving in closer to the blonde.

"I think you owe me some gratitude," she waited for her words to kick in.

"Huh?" Jamie looked on confused. "I mean it was nice of you to talk about this with me but…"

And then it dawned on her.

"Oh," her eyes widened and met Lily's, who didn't falter from her space.

_She's bluffing. _Jamie thought as she too moved closer, pulling Ella's mask over her features.

"I said 'thank you', that's gratitude enough," she fired back.

"For saving the life of your one and only father?" Lily questioned, not backing down. "I'd say that action warrants a little more from your lips than that, Storm."

Both Jamie and her character let out a huff of disbelief.

"You're not ready for that," she challenged once more.

_Surely she's going to pull away. _Jamie finally started to realize that this might be about to happen… And that, ironically enough, _she_ wasn't ready for it.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Lily stepped closer and fixed her gaze between small, soft lips and big green eyes; waiting to see if the distance would be closed.

Jamie could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she looked down at the short blonde. Why did it feel like she needed to move forward? This wasn't being filmed. She never kissed Callum or Mickey in read-throughs. Why did she feel the need to do so now? Was it the challenge that Lily's demeanor seemed to issue?

Yeah, that had to be it. There she was all smug and thinking that JMull, proclaimed homophobe, was going to pull away.

_Well, I'll show her and them._

And with that she began her descent and nearly closed the complete distance before both women were startled from the tension by the sound of a radio blaring from Jamie's back pocket.

"Anybody got a 20 on Lily? Lara just arrived for her scene and she's not gonna be happy about waiting."

"Jesus Christ!" Jamie grabbed the walkie and turned down the volume before speaking into it. "Hey guys, I found her, she'll be right down."

She took a deep breath and tried to gain her composure.

"I have got to stop stealing these from the PAs," she said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood. "And you better get down to the set before Lara has a meltdown."

"Right," Lily chuckled nervously and gathered her things. "Well, um, thank you for helping me with the read-through. I feel much better now."

Jamie nearly answered with a 'no problem' but then she remembered the challenge in the woman's eyes before.

"Is that the best way _you_ can think to say 'thank you'?" she asked with a smirk.

Lily narrowed her eyes and grinned cheekily before moving in close to whisper, her breath grazing Jamie's ear.

"It is when I'm late for set," she said, lingering just a little longer than would be appropriate before making her way off the ship.

Jamie took out her phone and captured a picture of the fairy climbing down off the boat. With a few keystrokes she posted her first personal tweet in months.

_ JMullHere: Looks like we've got a stowaway on the boat. But don't worry StormChasers. She's just here to steal your hearts._


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** This chapter is dedicated to Naa and Hope.

**Ship Key:

StormSorceress – SQ

CaptainStorm – CaptainSwan

FireStorm - SwanFire

WildWitch - EvilRegal

StormChaser - UglyDuckling

PrettyEvil - Rumbelle

OnyxSorceress – BlackQueen

Forkceress – SpoonGina

MullTilla – Morrilla

CaptainWall - HookFloor

Chapter 3

One of the midsized conference rooms near the 'A Long Time Ago' set bustled with conversation and the sound of bear claws being chewed ferociously by certain members of the cast. Callum and Mickey were working off a hangover from the night before while Lara tried to drink her coffee and ignore the fact that it really does go somuch better with a cigarette. Her thoughts were even further confirmed by Richard waving his smoke at her from the window and raising his coffee cup in triumph. He was answered by a mock smile and a middle finger.

"Ok, everyone. Can you please take your seats so we can begin?" Alan Menkowitz, the show's co-creator, called out to the cast. "We're going to try to keep this meeting under an hour so that you all can get back to your busy schedules."

"Hey, what is this meeting about anyway?" Mickey asked as he took a seat. "Mandatory attendance at 8am on a Saturday is sacrilegious if you ask me."

"It's ship sensitivity training," Ellen Kepner, the shows other co-creator explained. "Half the time we don't even know what we're saying to piss off the fan base. This class is designed to help us all determine the land mines and pitfalls involved in navigating the terrain right now, especially concerning social media."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Jamie took a seat by herself, given that Callum smelled like a distillery and Gillian Goldwin, her best work buddy, was kind of going all moony over her real life white knight, Joe Houston.

She sipped her coffee and settled in; waiting for the presentation to start, when, out of the corner of her eye she noticed Lily walking in the door. She was wearing a pair of yoga pants and a black t-shirt that simply said "Penis". A laugh slipped Jamie's lips without her permission and drew in the young starlet's attention. With a smile and purposeful steps, the new comer walked right over to the seat next to Jamie and made herself at home.

"Is this seat taken?" She asked quietly as Alan droned on about ratings metrics and fandom formulas.

"It would seem it is now," Jamie answered, chewing absentmindedly at the rim of her coffee cup.

"Do you mind?" Lily wondered.

"Nah, I've had to sit next to way bigger dicks before," she said, allowing her eyes to drift to the words on the blonde's shirt… words that rested conveniently above perky breasts.

A full-on grin grew on Lily's face as she stared forward, "My, my Jamie Mulligan. Who would ever have thought you had such a dirty mouth?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," she teased before they both actually started paying attention to the presentation.

"These are two of the most informed, enthusiastic and non-violent fans we could find to explain the fan language to us," Allan pointed at two girls in their early twenties. "I give you Faith and Natalie."

The two experts stepped forward, grinning like idiots. It was even possible that one of them was drooling as she stared on at Lara and the other whispered a quick 'Marry me' to Jamie.

"Right, I'm Natalie," the dark haired and much older looking girl, said to the room full of her own heroes. "I'm a StormSorceress shipper all the way, an avid WildWitch and fanatic StormChaser."

Blank stares met the excited proclamation and her counterpoint decided to chime in.

"And I'm Faith," the much younger looking of the two gave an excited wave and started listing off her ships on her fingers. "I ship KnightSorceress, FireStorm, CaptainWall, Forkceress, and MullTilla but my main ship is StormSorceress."

Her excited nod was also met with what looked like apes trying to understand calculus.

"Ok, let's break it down," Natalie took Faith's hand and led her to the whiteboard, grabbing markers for each of them. "Nearly every single person in the 'A Long Time Ago' universe is shipped with someone else. You put either the first or last names together to make a ship name. We normally go with whatever sounds best."

"And there's a hierarchy," Faith added, starting to write as well. "You see, StormSorceress is pretty much always at the top of the food chain, followed closely by PrettyEvil. Then you've got your CaptainStorm and FireStorm fans pretty much evenly matched after that. Now, Jamie is in nearly every one of these ships. That's why she keeps getting all of the backlash. I know that people are being mean about it but you really could take it all as a compliment because everyone wants you in their ship."

"But they can't have her," Natalie mumbled.

"Not now," Faith mumbled back. "Remember that waiver you signed?"

"I don't give a shit, she's mine," she fired back, the mumbling becoming more forceful.

"Anyway," Faith said back to the crowd as Natalie stared on at Jamie with a look that seemed akin to the way Edward looks when you can tell he wants to eat Bella. "The thing is, if you give all of the ships equal attention in your public speaking and your social media, they'll all start to be happier and more pissed off. Best to just be very vague… Or just go with your highest demographic!"

The smiling fan pointed excitedly at the StormSorceress box while half the cast was checking their phones and the other half was fighting sleep. Well, everyone except Callum. He actually was asleep with his head resting on Mickey's shoulder. It must have been this relaxed state that allowed the semi-loud explosion of gas to break the silence in the room.

"Ewww!" Natalie shrieked. "See, that's why no one likes CaptainStorm!"

Everyone looked on in shock at Callum while Lily raised her hand.

"Yes!" Faith called on her. "New fairy, who we all currently ship with Selena."

A quixotic look overtook Lily's features before she finally asked her question, looking down at her twitter feed to get it right.

"What's OnyxSorceress?"

Both Natalie and Faith's faces fell and they looked as if they'd just seen a ghost. The older girl moved up and took her friend's hand.

"We don't speak of that ship," she explained with extreme seriousness. "It's far more disturbing than what Callum just did."

"Selena and her mother!" Jamie yelled, looking up from her phone. "What is wrong with people?"

"She said we don't talk about it!" Faith's voice turned shrill and angry till she calmed herself down by thinking about rainbow stickers and unicorn kisses. "Sorry, anyway, are there anymore questions?"

No one dared to go any further than the well they'd already dug themselves into.

"Alright, well if that's all I guess our job is done here, right Natalie?" She looked at her friend knowingly.

"Right." Natalie answered.

It was then that both girls ran at full speed into the crowd and planted full blown kisses on their respective idols. Natalie on Jamie, and Faith on Lara. Not in the history of the world have security men pulled away two happier fanatics.

"What just happened?" Jamie asked with a blank stare as Lara wiped her mouth with a satisfied smirk.

"I think you just had your first lesbian experience," Lily answered.

"That wasn't my…" she stopped herself. "Wait! What just happened now?" 

"I just got you to admit you've lived life on the lesbian side a little more than you let on," Lily said with a wink and stood up, offering her hand to Jamie. "Want to get some real breakfast and tell me about your college years?"

"You buying?" Jamie asked.

"Sure," the blonde head nodded in answer.

"Then I'm in," she asserted as they exited the room with the rest of the cast, leaving Alan and Ellen alone.

"Why do you think the show attracts so many lesbians?" Alan asked.

Ellen thought for a moment before answering.

"You think it's all the leather outfits?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"I need to go out tonight!"

Gillian Goldwin's desperate voice reverberated throughout Jamie Mulligan's trailer.

"Okay…" Jamie tried to understand the reasoning for the sudden entrance. "Why do you need to go out tonight?"

"Because! This stupid place encourages our stupid co-stars to go out and act like 'party people' and Joe is going out to a hockey game with Callum and Mickey and I need to seem like I have a life too!"

She said it as if it was a big imposition before falling onto Jamie's couch.

"And why do you have to do this?" Jamie asked, not understanding why staying at home and reading wasn't a completely acceptable way to spend an evening.

Gillian looked shocked and sat back up.

"Because, James, they're all very attractive men going to a sporting event with very attractive, and drunk, young girls! If he's going to go out and be a slab of meat, so am I!"

Before the blonde leading lady even had a chance to respond, her trailer door opened once more and Lily made her way in.

"Hey Jamie, I was just wondering if you could possibly go over…"

The short blonde was cut off as soon as she looked up and saw Gillian standing there in a panicked state.

"Oh god, I'm sorry," she said, retreating. "I just barged into what looks like a very private moment. I'm so rude. We can talk about this later."

She started to make her way out of the trailer and Jamie jumped up from her seat and promptly pulled her back inside.

"Nope," she put the girl onto the couch with her 'motherly' co-star and closed the trailer door. "You walked into this mess. You can help me fix it."

"Fix what?" Lily asked, brows furrowing in confusion.

Jamie smirked, pacing the small space, happy to have a partner in crime when it came to her on-site bestie.

"Gillian's boyfriend is going out tonight with the boys. They will no doubt be smothered with unsavory women," she rolled her eyes, knowing that wasn't the case. "Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to find a suitable event for us to attend to showcase that Gillian is just as wanted and sought after as said boyfriend."

The standing woman crossed her arms and waited for an answer from her beautiful co-star.

_Wait, did I just think she was beautiful?_

The blonde head shook and waited for a reply. Lilly thought for a few moments and then her eyes lit up so much that it caused her to stand from her seat.

"Ok, we may need to steal some masks from the costume room but… I do have a plan."

"What is it?" Gillian sat up in her seat and awaited an answer with rapt attention.

"Just raid the costume room and find a mask," Lily explained, "dress sexy and meet me back here around ten tonight."

"Ten?!" Jamie exclaimed. "I'm normally falling asleep midway through a novel by then!"

"Yes, well," Lily interjected, "tonight you're going to have a life."

She looked at her watch and started to make her way out of the trailer.

"Meet me here at ten… wearing flip flops," she said as the door started to close. "And look sexy!"

The door clicked closed and both remaining women were left simply staring at each other.

"Where the hell are we going in masks, sexy clothes and flip flops?" Jamie asked.

"I don't know," Gillian answered with a satisfied smile. "But I like the way that new fairy thinks!"

With that she bolted from the trailer and made a beeline for the costume department, leaving Jamie in her wake.

"What just happened?" she asked to an empty room.

* * *

><p>Jamie showed up to her trailer in leather pants, a skin-tight tank top and a bad attitude, waiting for the other women to arrive. Gillian did so looking like… a cat? Maybe. With a corset and a mask over her eyes.<p>

"Jamie! You actually came!" she exclaimed excitedly, hugging her friend. "I thought for sure you'd bail."

"What? Why?" she asked, somewhat offended.

"Because you tend to be a stick in the mud," a voice came from behind Gillian, and that voice belonged to a _very_ scantily dressed Lily. "At least you do these days. I imagine you might have been far more accommodating before this whole convention business happened."

She looked Jamie over and questioned, "Where is your mask?"

With a sigh, and her hands on her hips, Jamie answered, "I don't need a mask. I'm comfortable with myself."

"Good thing I brought two," the petite blonde said as she moved closer and placed a mask over Jamie's face. "Trust me, you don't want to be noticed for being yourself where we're going. Ladies…"

Lily motioned for the two women to follow her to a limousine just off set.

"Wow!" Gillian exclaimed, grabbing Jamie's hand as they walked. "This is so exciting!"

"Yeah, loads of fun," the blonde grimaced and sighed as she entered the limo and took a seat.

As soon as everyone was in, the car started to move.

"Okay," Lily said preparing drinks. "Now, I hope you girls like Patron. You're going to need it."

She dispersed the shots among the other two, rolling her eyes at the distaste that was present in Jamie's glare.

"Be a sport, now," she said adamantly. "This night is for Gillian."

And with that, and an eye-roll on Jamie's part, they all took their shots and waited to arrive at their destination.

* * *

><p>"A swinger's party!" Jamie exclaimed, obviously upset at the venue.<p>

"Quiet your tongue!" Lily warned. "And it's not just _a _swinger's party! It's _the _swinger's party in all the province! This is a very exclusive event and no one has to do anything they don't want to but this is the _only_ place we all could go with masks on and not look like raving lunatics."

She moved closer to both her co-stars so she could speak quietly in the bar area.

"There's drinks and dancing and plenty of non-flash photo opportunities to make Joe whatever-his-name-is very jealous. It's perfect."

"It is!" Gillian beamed, hugging Lily close. "Thank you so much for this. I'm about to make this night a selfie extravaganza!"

With that, Gillian grabbed a very alcoholic drink and took to the floor. She even managed to remember half the time to not use the flash while chronicling how much fun she was having and sending the pictures to Joe.

Jamie let out an appreciative huff of a laugh as she leaned back against the bar, watching while Lily got them both drinks.

"They call this one a screaming orgasm," Lily announced proudly and handed one of her drinks to the woman who was becoming ever more endearing to her. "And that was the cleanest sounding drink name I could find."

"Fantastic," Jamie raised her glass and clinked it against Lily's before taking a brave swallow. "It's… milky."

"Yeah… I think it's symbolic," was the answer which nearly made Jamie gag. "You alright?" she asked with a pat to the poor blonde's back. "You need to relax more," she encouraged as the pat turned into a rubbing motion.

"I relax at home," Jamie fired back, somewhat frustrated at the whole thing, "not at seedy parties like this one where the Neanderthals come to mate!"

Lily's eyes narrowed.

"So you think sex is Neanderthal behavior? If that's true then the whole human race would expire once we became as enlightened as you!"

She turned her back to Jamie and looked on a lot of people just trying to get to know each other.

"You know, this is a sex party," she explained the obvious to her more judgmental friend. "Yet no one is having sex right now. Do you know why?"

Jamie looked on and actually tried to come up with an answer that made sense… but she couldn't. So she gave it her best shot.

"They're just warming up?"

"They're just scared," Lily explained indignantly. "They're scared just like you and me and Gilly over there with her iPhone. They're all scared that one day they won't be young and beautiful and popular. That they'll be alone. If this were just about sex, everyone would come here, drop trow and start going at it but they don't. They want to make a connection. And, as much as it may seem crass to you, for some of them it's all they've got. So maybe you should take a step down from that incredibly high horse and actually live in the experience that's surrounding you."

Lily stepped away and took her drink out to the dance floor where lots of people were just moving to the music and, some dancing horribly, having a good time. The blonde at the bar finished her drink and ordered another, huffing as she thought about the enigmatic woman's words.

"She wants me to live in the moment," she said to herself as she grabbed her next 'screaming orgasm', "I'll give her living in the moment."

And with that Jamie Mulligan, world proclaimed homophobe, strode out proudly to the dance floor right toward the challenging entity who'd brought her to that very place. With a strong arm, she pulled Lily's body close to her own and started moving with her to the music. A shocked expression overtook Lily's normally schooled features.

"Don't assume you know everything about me," Jamie husked into the blonde's ear as they moved together. "And don't think I'm unaware of what you're doing."

Lily was both aroused and taken aback by the sudden burst of confidence within the woman who was slowly becoming a very prominent thought in her head basically all the time.

"What am I doing?" She asked while simultaneously wrapping her arms around strong shoulders.

Jamie took another sip of her drink to try to find the courage to answer.

"Trying to make me jealous," she said, cold, but matter of fact.

"Did it work?" Lily asked, hoping the answer would be 'yes'.

The admittance of intent caused Jamie to pull away.

"Yes," she admitted. "But I don't like games."

And with that she moved back to the bar long enough to see Joe Houston enter the room… with no mask, and pull some toga clad gentleman off of his girlfriend. After that it was a bunch of kissing and groping and mumbling conversation between the two lovebirds about how they 'really just wanted to spend time with each other' as they kissed their way out the door.

"Did you buy more condoms? We used the whole pack last weekend." Jamie heard Gillian say as Joe carried her out.

The answer was faint but it sounded affirmative. Or at least she hoped so as the drunken duo made their way back to their love nest to make passionate, post sex-party, love to one another.

"Dear god, I hope they don't get pregnant," she said to no one. "What is Ella supposed to do with that?"

It was then that Lily came up to the bar next to her and ordered a drink, though there were clearly many open places besides that one. Once it was delivered, she took a sip and started speaking to the brooding blonde.

"Don't stand there all smug acting like you're so wounded," she announced confidently. "You're about as closed off as Fort Knox and you know it. I was just trying to help your friend."

"You were just trying to rattle me too," Jamie fired back just as confidently.

"Well, your claws are out now so I guess my job is done," she finished the drink and walked out of the party, trying to use the Uber app on her phone.

Jamie stomped out right behind her.

"What is your problem!?" she asked, trailing the petite blonde.

"You are my problem when you're like this!" she turned back and let the words run free. "You're scared and cold and… everything that holds you back. You care so much about what people think that you let it control your life. But what's funny is that you hate the people that judge you."

"You're drunk," Jamie stated evenly.

"And stoned but that's not the point," Lily responded.

"So what's the point?" Jamie asked, now confused.

"The point is," Lilly marched forward, "I got your friend together with her boyfriend tonight and they're probably going to make babies and get married and live happily ever after. And that was the entire goal of the evening."

"So why are you mad at me?" Jamie asked, now irritated.

"Because…"

It was obvious that the small blonde was having trouble making her words work right, but still, she tried to forge on.

"Because you act like you're above this all," she said with a sad sigh. "Like all of this, your friends probably getting pregnant out of wedlock after a sex party, is an inconvenience to your life because you want to read Anna Karenina for the fourth time."

Anger grew within Jamie.

"Yeah, well you just try to bring people out of their shells so you don't feel so alone!"

Even as she stepped forward and enunciated every word, she knew she shouldn't have allowed them to come out. And she definitely knew it after the fight went out of Lily's eyes and she turned her back focusing on the road ahead, praying it would bring her driver.

With an audible sigh Jamie made her way closer.

"I am alone," she said softly. "It's not as scary as putting myself out there. I don't have to worry about being rejected." She swallowed hard. "Rejected by people who think that I'm elitist enough to have made it through any Tolstoy even once."

Shame took over Lily as she realized how incredibly judgmental _she'd_ been. But, still, she turned around to face Jamie as she continued.

"I'm alone too but, just like those people in there," the leading actress pointed back to the house, "I don't want to be. And I really, really didn't mean to hurt someone who is becoming one of my closest friends."

As the words left her lips the blonde head looked down to study the concrete as 'one of her closest friends' couldn't stop herself from moving in to take the small frame in her arms.

"I'm sorry," Lily said as she held tight to Jamie. "I guess… I guess I just want to be close to you for some reason and sometimes you seem so far away."

Jamie allowed herself to revel in the embrace.

"I haven't let anyone this close in a long time," Jamie promised. "I know I'm a little rusty but I'll try to get better at it. Is that enough?"

"It's more than enough," Lily answered, pressing a kiss to her cheek as she pulled away.

Conveniently the car arrived at that very moment and both women shared it back to their separate apartments. The girls pulled away reluctantly and Lily took Jamie's hand, indicating that they should share the ride home.

"Hey, why did we need flip flops?" Jamie asked as she closed the door.

"Oh, because if you don't wear flip flops they make you go barefooted," Lily answered with a yawn as she settled her head against Jamie's strong shoulder. "And trust me, you don't want to step in anything there without a barrier between your foot and the floor."

"Sorry I asked," Jamie nodded and allowed her head to rest against the other blonde one.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, it was on that night that a certain baby was conceived. One that would change the future of 'A Long Time Ago' in many ways. The best being that they would all become more of a family.


End file.
